Yes, she is back at the vet's office. She was to go in for fluids this morning and another xray with the idea that they would probably move to surgery after that. I called the vet first thing this morning to see how the xray went. At that time he said she now had a fever. He told me they had her on fluids and baytril and would move toward surgery within an hour. He mentioned the possibility of a perforrated bowel and my mind went numb. I am so scared!

I asked what would happen if they found nothing on surgery and he had really no info for me..
PHONE RANG!! Doctor calling me....

Well... I don't feel any better. The bowels were good (and looked fine)- in fact pretty much everything looked fine. Limited pancreas irritation (he said he had bumped it twice with a bowel and may have been the irritant). He did say the gall bladder was inflamed. It had a thickened and enlarged duct. When he aspirated this with a needle pus oozed out- the source of the fever is likely this infection. He said it was odd that all of her blood work and been normal. He said it was odd that there was not real jaundice.... that she was pink and healthy not yellowed at all. He said though that this billiary duct abcess is likely what caused all the visible inflammation and probably the fluid in the abdomen. He seemed surprised the cat showed no tenderness or pain on physical manipulation of the stomach during exam.

I asked now about FIP. He said he could not rule it out and really nothing more. I asked if this abcess was the cause of all her illness or a secondary issue to what was making her ill and he could not say. I asked if the blood work now showed any issues to indicate this infection. He told me they had not done ANY blood work. How can you take a cat to surgery, especially in light of the fever and not take blood?! He told me they were not sure about the "cost". I am so surprised. I mean I am spending thousands of dollars and you are going to question a $75 test??? If you were questioning this would you not call? Did my "whatever it takes" when you asked about how far I wanted to go not give you an idea that blood work would be fine???? THIS is why you let my dog die 6 years ago- your cheap first attitude sucks!!! I have told you both times money is not an issue for us! (vent over)

Anyway, I asked about the baytril and blindness connection. He said they had already decided to move to marboflaxcin (brand name zeniquin). I am to call at 3:30 to see that she is waking up well and get a plan of action. I can then pick her up this evening. We will do 2 weeks of antibiotics. I asked directly about force feeding and he agreed she was doing as well as she is because we are feeding her. He thinks I should use an AD canned food- THOUGHTS????? HE offered no answers to my queries about what caused this, how to prevent it, supplements, or feeding changed long term...

I don't have personal experience with gall bladder inflammation, but I just looked it up on petMD and the symptoms fit what you described to a T. I'd suggest you take a look. They describe causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment (limited to conventional).

For immediate consideration after the surgery:

"Remain observant for a slowed heartbeat, drop in blood pressure, and cardiac arrest when biliary structures are manipulated. Atropine may be required to slow or prevent the organs from responding to nerve stimulation, and to slow the body's secretions."

And may I just say that I've run into the no blood work before surgery problem, too? Unbelievably frustrating, especially when you explicitly tell them to do the blood work beforehand! And somehow it's always the one time it gets skipped it would have turned up critical information ...

No they did nothing more than aspirate the infection. I did ask they do blood work NOW and that they send the fluid for analysis to make sure we are using the correct form of antibiotic.
I called at 3:30 but the Dr was with a patient. I will go at 6:30 to pickup and hopefully get more information.

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